Word Play with Mathematica

Here in Champaign-Urbana, where Roger Ebert was raised, I took notice when Disney announced the end of its long relationship with Ebert & Roeper. Disney also announced the replacement critics, Lyons & Mankiewicz. Was there something intentional in that? A quick run on my Mathematica programs returned this anagram:

Lyons + Mankiewicz = Monica Lewinsky + Z

Did Disney do this deliberately?

Words sometimes have hidden meaning. For over 30 years, I’ve been sharing puzzles with Will Shortz. Many of these I’ve found with Mathematica, such as computer user = supreme court, and Will has used them in his weekly NPR puzzle segment. Anagrams have of course been popular for many years. A 1936 tour de force by David Shulman is a sonnet where every line uses the letters of “Washington Crossing the Delaware.” The National Puzzlers League maintains a list of best anagrams. Also, anagrammy.com regularly ranks new anagrams as they are found. Here are some good ones:Centenarian == Near ancient. (Dan Fortier)Heel claims == me, Achilles. (Paul Pan)Remains hot == in a Thermos. (Adrian Hickford)True friends == endure rifts. (Joe Fathallah)Homo sapiens == Ape's son, IMHO. (Noam D. Elkies)Internet spam == It's permanent. (Tom Myers)Rats and mice == in cat's dream. (Joe Fathallah)Metamorphosis == Promises a moth. (Andrew Brehaut)A marble statue == Mute alabaster. (Rosie Perera)Borderline case == Reconsiderable. (David Bourke)Slices of bread == describes loaf. (Dean Mayer)I'd do anything! == Had no dignity. (Tony Crafter)Valentine amulets == Sentimental value. (Allan Morley)Designated driver == Danger is diverted. (Mick Tully)American education == An academic routine. (Jesse Frankovich)Gone with the Wind? == Then weigh it down! (Toby Gottfried)One thousand kilos == Oh, sounds like a ton! (Hans-Peter Reich)Classified document == Found access limited. (Adrian Hickford)A domestic housecat == Does it catch a mouse? (David Bourke)An appointment diary != Pop in at any darn time. (Larry Brash)Spaghetti & meatballs == Best light pasta meal. (Toby Gottfried)

(A quick note on notation: I’m using “==” when the meanings of the two sides of an anagram are roughly equivalent or apposite, “=” when the only relation is the component letters, and “!=” when they are opposites.)

Recently, I used Mathematica to find well-mixed transposals among Wikipedia entries. Here are some of the longest transposals.

Only the Wikipedia list can find such oddities as Britney Spears = presbyterians. But the Wikipedia list has hundreds of thousands of misspelled words and spurious entries. Still, it’s a useful part of my toolbox for finding word oddities.